United in sorrow: Wales marks death of four miners with minute's silence at Premiership football game

Wales was united in mourning today following the death of four miners and marked the tragedy with a minute's silence at a Premiership football game in their home city.

Players lined up on the center circle and linked arms as thousands of fans observed the silence for the workers who died at the Gleision Colliery yesterday.

The disaster has devastated the city, and the emotional tribute at the game showed the outpouring of grief for the four men. Fittingly, Swansea went on to win the encounter 3-0.

As the small village where the men lived struggled to come to terms with the tragedy, a special fund to help the families of the victims was set up by Labour MP Peter Hain who urged the public to make donations.

On the minersappealfund.org website, Mr Hain, who is MP for Neath, wrote: 'The deaths of four miners at the Gleision Colliery was the worst mining accident Wales has seen for generations.

Paying respects: Players from Swansea and West Brom line up on the centre-circle as fans observe a minutes silence in memory of the four miners killed this week

Grief: Swansea manager Swansea manager bows his head as he links arms with coaching staff during the minute's silence

'This tragedy is a stab through the heart of the community. We can't even imagine what the families are going through.

'But they need our help to survive and recover in the future.So today I am launching an appeal fund to help support them and will be announcing other patrons shortly.

'Please give what you can to support the families.'

The bodies of Phillip Hill, 45, Charles Breslin, 62, David Powell, 50, and Garry Jenkins were discovered at the colliery yesterday, dashing desperate hopes that any of the men would be found alive.

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The tragedy sent shockwaves through the close-knit Swansea Valley community.

Local people have begun leaving floral tributes near the mine.

One card said: 'There's a cry in the valleys, tears in the West. Mourning the heroes that wear the pit vest

'Underground grafters always put in a shift. Below the hillside in the deep dark drift. They're not coming home to their children, their wives. The mine once again takes cherished lives

'The coalfields of Britain all unite in your mourn. We're all the same breed, we're pit village born. RIP from the people of the Rhondda Valley.'

Workers: A large number of mine rescue specialists helped in
the efforts at Gleision

Conditions in the mine were said to be cramped, with the ceiling height at just 77cm, almost 20cm lower than a standard kitchen worktop. Above, the scene at Gleision Colliery as emergency services frantically worked to locate miners trapped inside

Another said: "Our love and thoughts
go out to the families who lost their loved ones after this ragedy and
will be sadly missed by many. RIP.

'As for Dai 'bull', who we knew well, this is hard to take in and cannot believe you are gone.

'You were an absolute star and a legend in your own way.

'You never failed to make anyone laugh and we will miss your laugh, that's for sure. Ha!

'We have some great memories with you and will never be forgotten.RIP Dai and behave up there!

'Piggy, Dan White, Dale Bean xxx'

Among those leaving flowers at the scene was Maria Spooner, Plaid Cymru county borough councillor for Rhos.

Mrs Spooner said: 'I've spent the last two days with the families in the community centre, so this is the first chance I've had to come here and pay my respects.

Tragic: Garry Jenkins, pictured with his partner Sarah was one of the four miners who sadly died after becoming trapped

'This is just something I felt I needed to do. The whole community is very, very quiet but everyone has been amazing in rallying round.

'I've just been up to the village to thank the shopkeepers for donating supplies to people at the community centre over the last few days.'

Meanwhile, Swansea City Football Club will hold a minute's silence later for the miners.

The tribute will take place before the team's Premier League game against West Bromwich Albion at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea.

The club's chairman, Huw Jenkins, described the disaster as a "dreadful tragedy which has affected the whole community'.

He added: 'Our sympathy goes out to the families who have lost loved ones in extremely sad circumstances.'

Messages of support have poured in from around the world, with well-wishers everywhere praying for some good news until the final death was announced.

Peter Vaughan, Chief Constable of South Wales Police, praised the community spirit.

He said: 'We've been humbled by the community spirit that's been shown during this most tragic of incidents.'

Authorities will now switch from a search and recovery operation at the flooded mine to an investigation into the incident, police said.

Rescue workers are seen leaving the colliery after spending 12 hours trying to find the trapped miners

Deaths: Fireman Chris Margetts, Superintendent Phil Davies and Peter Hain MP announced today that the bodies of two trapped miners had been found

Two women hug at a nearby community centre following the mining disaster

Officers described the sad conclusion to the rescue efforts as 'the one none of us wanted'.

The alarm was raised early on Thursday after the shaft flooded, trapping the men.

It
had been hoped that the miners - originally part of a group of seven -
might have found refuge in an air pocket following the accident.

Grieving: This is the second tragedy to strike the area in the last week

The
bad news came through gradually yesterday, however, with police
announcing at 6pm that the body of the last of the four had been found.

Mr
Vaughan said: 'We've tried to bring this safely to its conclusion.
Unfortunately the conclusion we have is the one none of us wanted.'

Expressing
his condolences to the men's relatives, the police chief said: 'I can't
begin to imagine what the families are going through.'

Moving out: Divers had to abandon their mission as mine shafts were blocked by rubble

Workers at the scene. The main shaft, serviced by a conveyor belt, was 275 metres long - with the entrance 145 metres above sea level

Dangerous: A picture from 2008 shows the Gleision mine when it was derelict

Fire and rescue and ambulance workers said they had never seen or worked in such conditions before.

The
men's bodies were found close together, one on the exit side of the
blockage and the other three, which were recovered yesterday afternoon,
in the area where they had been working.

Mr
Vaughan asked for the privacy of the families of Mr Hill from Neath,
and Mr Breslin, Mr Powell, and Mr Jenkins, all from the Swansea Valley,
to be respected.

The prosecution said that to work the drift mines, water had to be constantly pumped out

Media scrum: The press have descended in force on the rural area as they followed the progress of the rescue attempts

Firemen: The fire service has been at the forefront of the operation

One of the three miners who managed
to escape the drift mine when it flooded has been named in reports as
Daniel Powell, son of victim David Powell, who was said to be the site's
maintenance engineer.

Of the three who escaped, one is now
critically ill in hospital. The two other men who were with him emerged
largely unharmed and helped the rescue operation.

Prime
Minister David Cameron described the tragedy, which is to be
investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as a
'desperately, desperately sad situation'.

He
said the anguish of the miners' families was 'intense' but that it was
clear the emergency services had done everything they could.

An emergency services helicopter circles the mine after it collapsed

Emergency workers gather outside the mine to try to locate those trapped inside. Mr Fyfield survived after crawling out through sludge and dirt

The attempts to locate the four missing men started on Thursday morning